The present invention relates to a specimen holder for inverted microscopes, i.e., microscopes in which the objects are viewed from below.
These inverted microscopes, which were originally constructed for the examination of specimens which settle out on the bottom of vessels, such as chemical reaction products, micro-organisms, tissue cultures, etc., are finding increasing use as universal microscopes since even upon the observation of "normal" specimens, i.e., specimens which can be examined with erect microscopes, no disadvantages are present; on the contrary, the generally greater stability of the inverted microscope frequently has an advantageous effect.
Upon examination by an inverted microscope, such objects of the most different dimensions are in the simplest case merely placed on the stage, which is provided with an opening in the region of the field of view. Specimens which are placed in this way on the stage may, however, slide out of position, so that, in most cases, it is necessary to fix the specimen on the surface of the stage.
From West German Gebrauchsmuster No. 7,232,969, it is known to use different replaceable special specimen holders adapted to the dimensions of the objects to be examined, in order to hold different objects. The disadvantage of such a system resides not only in the additional expense for a series of different specimen holders but, when operating with different objects, the user is furthermore forced to continuously replace the specimen holders; this practice is not only inconvenient, but it becomes more time-consuming the greater the number of holders in the system.